The telling of this story, continued the barber, made the caliph laugh.  “Go home,” said he to me, “I have ordered something to be given you to make up for the loss of the good dinner you expected.”  “Commander of the faithful,” I replied, “I pray your majesty to let me stay till I have told the story of my other brothers.”  The caliph having signified by his silence that he was willing to hear me, I went on thus.

The Story of the Barber’s Second Brother.

My second brother, who was called Backbarah the Toothless, going one day through the city, met in a distant street an old woman, who came up to him, and said, “I want one word with you, pray stop a moment.”  He did so, and asked what she would have.  “If you have time to come with me,” said she, “I will bring you into a stately palace, where you shall see a lady as fair as the day.  She will receive you with much pleasure, and treat you with excellent wine.  I need say no more.”  “But is what you say true?” demanded my brother.  “I am no lying hussy,” replied the old woman.  “I say nothing to you but what is true.  But hark, I have something to ask of you.  You must be prudent, say but little, and be extremely polite.”  Backbarah agreed to all this.  The old woman went on, and he followed her.  They came to the gate of a great palace, where there was a number of officers and domestics.  Some of them would have stopped my brother, but no sooner did the old woman speak to them than they let him pass.  Then turning to my brother, she said to him, “You must remember that the young lady I bring you to loves good-nature and modesty, and cannot endure to be contradicted; if you please her in these respects, you may be sure to obtain of her what you please.”  Backbarah thanked her for this advice, and promised to follow it.

She brought him into a superb court, answerable to the magnificence of the palace.  There was a gallery round it, and a garden in the middle.  The old woman made him sit down on a handsome sofa, and bade him stay a moment, till she went to acquaint the young lady with his arrival.

My brother, who had never been in such a stately palace before, gazed on the fine things that he saw; and judging of his good fortune by the magnificence of the palace, he was scarcely able to contain himself for joy.  In a short time he heard a great noise, occasioned by a troop of merry slaves, who came towards him with loud fits of laughter; and in the middle of them he perceived a young lady of extraordinary beauty, who was easily known to be their mistress by the respect they paid her.  Backbarah, who expected private conversation with the lady, was extremely surprised when he saw so much company with her.  In the mean time, the slaves, as they drew near, put on a grave countenance; and when the young lady came up to the sofa, my brother rose and made her a low obeisance.  She took the upper seat, prayed him to sit down, and said to him with a smiling countenance, “I am much pleased to see you, and wish you all the happiness you can desire.”  “Madam,” replied Backbarah, “I cannot desire a greater happiness than to be in your company.”  “You seem to be of a pleasant humour,” said she, “and to be disposed to pass the time agreeably.”